IK Multimedia IRIG PRO QUATTRO I/O

IKs new interface is designed to go anywhere and record anything.

The iRig Pro Quattro I/O mixes mobile recording with multichannel audio, professional connections, metering, mixing and adaptation in achunky handholdable device. Is this the supercharged iRig interface weve been waiting for?

My first impression is that its surprisingly large in all dimensions. Its not heavy but is quite chunky in the hand. It has anicely grippy rubberised texture to it and all the connections on every surface make it look multifunctional rather than beautiful. Its got sockets all over the place. It looks every bit like afield recorder with those lowprofile, thumbable knobs, metering display and the adaptor that could let you mount on anything from atripod to acamera shoe. Except that it doesnt have any ability to record.

IK Multimedia have highlighted the lack of recording ability as afeature because youre not going to need any of those annoying SD cards. What you do need is acomputer, phone or DSLR, and that, at least for me, makes it feel like it could be abit cumbersome in the field. However, independent field recording is only one possible scenario and there are plenty others where the Quattro might well show its quality.

The Specs

The iRig Quattro I/O is afourchannel battery, USB or DCpowered audio interface. It has four phantompowered microphone combi XLR inputs that can double up as two instrument and two linelevel inputs. Further alternative line inputs are provided on RCA phono and minijack, so you wont need to be carrying apocket full of adaptors. For outputs you have apair of balanced XLR connections plus aminijack line output and minijack headphone output. Finishing it off is MIDI in and out on those annoyingly smallerthanminijack sockets IK like to use. But you do get one 5pin DIN MIDI adaptor in the box.

The Quattro also has aswitchable inbuilt omnidirectional microphone for simple and easy sound capturing. It appears at Input 1 and can be controlled via the same gain control. Alternatively, you can plug in apair of condenser microphones, like the iRig Mic XY (not included) to make it look even more like afield recorder.

The included cable set is worth amention. The Quattro uses a7pin Host connection rather than regular data ports, but this allows them to supply the right cable for every eventuality. Along with USBA you get acable with aLightning connector for iPhone and iPad connection, and aUSBC connection for computers and most Android devices. Theres an additional microUSB port thats expressly for power when working with lowpower devices such as phones, and you dont have any batteries to hand. Thats avery welcome sight and simplifies the connections when using aphone. Although it doesnt pass through power, which is ashame, you can also power it from an IK Multimedia power adaptor (not included), which will power your device as well.

The cables are abit short, so the Quattro and your phone/tablet/laptop have to stay pretty close together. Its not amajor problem but the Quattro does have athreaded adaptor on the back for using with cameras or mic stands, so unless youre using it purely in mixer mode then youre going to have to gaffer tape your phone to the mic stand leg or something. Although that assumes that youre using the Quattro to be everything all at once, when in fact this iRig is adept at transforming to meet different scenarios. So, if you did mount it on acamera, you would probably wire it into the cameras mic input for recording, not your phone.

The physicality of the box has aslightly ungainly vibe of having cables coming out of every side. So, when cabled up its not avery neat solution, but IK have made great use of space. Its solid enough and would survive afall or two even though its made of plastic. The thumb wheels are not really my cup of tea. Iunderstand that they serve apurpose in keeping the unit small and are potentially easy to operate when using the same thumb as the hand youre holding it with, but they are not ajoyful experience. They are abit too resistant to movement and whether Im using thumbs or fingers they tend to slide off.